Posts Tagged ‘san francisco county jail’

On October 1, California will start diverting low-level felony offenders and parole violators to county jail, rather than state prison, when a new law, known as “realignment,” goes into effect. The law was proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown as a way to bring the California prison system into compliance with the Supreme Court’s order to alleviate overcrowding, and was enacted by the Legislature in March as AB 109. I thought I’d run through a few basics of how the law will work and round up some recent news coverage from around the state. If you’re looking for a more comprehensive resource, the ACLU of Northern California has produced a helpful guide (PDF) to the law and how counties can plan for the changes.

The Mechanics

How will AB 109 change California sentencing practices? As of October 1, the law transfers responsibility for punishing non-serious, non-violent, non-sex felony offenses to the county level, where misdemeanors are already handled. So rather than being sent to state prison, these low-level offenders will now be punished with a term in county jail or whatever alternative sanction the county comes up with. (For those familiar with the California Penal Code, generally we’re talking about felonies punishable by the “16 months/2 years/3 years” triad.) Read the rest of this entry »

An en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit held today that San Francisco County Jail’s blanket strip search policy is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment — overruling earlier Ninth Circuit precedent that required individualized reasonable suspicion for jailhouse strip searches. The opinion is worth reading in full, for it comes complete with a provocative, though somewhat digressive concurrence by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski (sampler: “I’m convinced that airport searches would be far more intrusive if upper and middle-class Americans were exempt”) and a vigorous dissent by Judge Thomas, co-signed by Judges Wardlaw, Berzon, and Rawlinson, opening with a litany of the plaintiffs’ allegations. Litigators’ tip: When challenging an intrusive search policy under the Fourth Amendment, it’s always helpful if one of your plaintiffs is a Catholic nun:

Mary Bull was arrested at a political protest for pouring red dye mixed with corn syrup on the ground. At the police station, according to her testimony, she was pushed to the floor and her clothes forcibly removed. Her face was smashed against the concrete cell floor while jailors performed a body cavity search. She was left naked in the cell for eleven hours, then subjected to a second body cavity search. After another twelve hours in the jail, she was released on her own recognizance. She was never charged with a crime.

Charli Johnson was arrested for operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license. She alleges she was forcibly strip searched by male officers in a hallway, and that she was kept in a cold room, naked for twelve hours with male officers regularly viewing her. No contraband was found. She was released the next day. No charges were ever filed.

Sister Bernie Galvin, a Catholic nun and a member of the Sisters of Divine Providence, was arrested at an anti-war demonstration for trespassing. She was strip searched at the jail. No contraband was found.Read the rest of this entry »